A Hiccup In The Process
by pensandink
Summary: So maybe Astrid's story had a bit of a different hiccup than the hiccup most heroes had, but she thought he fit her pretty well. -OR- The one where Astrid's a relatively nerdy loner, and so is Hiccup. [Hiccstrid] [Modern AU] [T - Language]


_Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or any affiliates._

_A/N: Five and a half pages of Hiccstrid fluff. Enjoy._

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><p><em>A story always has a hiccup, a mistake, a place where the hero goes wrong. The hiccup in Astrid's – well, <em>_**that's**__ a different story._

But Astrid's story in the beginning was nothing special. She was a regular girl, a teenager, living in Seattle with its ever-present rain and mist and general dreariness. She went to a public school, was in the gifted program, got good grades, and was physically gifted as well; she played volleyball and swam for the local club's swim team.

But that was before Hiccup stumbled – quite literally – into her life.

Hiccup was sick the first day she ever knew he existed. The teacher was pairing them up for their new science project and Astrid got assigned to do hers with one "Hayden Haddock," and Ruffnut had laughed her ugly laugh and poked fun at Astrid because she was paired with "Hiccup."

Yeah. Her friends are wonderful.

The next day, Hiccup was late, and it was in the middle of her science block when he stumbled in and mumbled apologies and flushed so bright red it might as well have been picked up on NASA satellites. He was tall, she noticed, and his hair was a sort of russet red-brown that Astrid thought was one of his more redeeming aspects. He had a spattering of freckles and was of the long, lean sort that reminded Astrid of a distance runner.

As her science teacher explained to Hiccup what the project they were working on was, Astrid noticed a few more things.

Hiccup's backpack was embroidered with **h3**. The paper sticking out of the side pocket had a drawing of a cat on it. He had a prosthetic leg.

Wait, what?

Yes, it was, in fact, a prosthetic. Astrid noticed the slight limp with which he walked, the plastic lower leg a startling contrast to his real, human leg.

She wondered how that happened. Was he born without the limb? Did he get into some sort of accident?

As Hiccup made his limping sort of way over to Astrid's experiment, she turned her focus back to her work.

The rustle of papers and the _thunk_ of something hitting the floor, the scraping of the stool beside her and the bare elbows invading the edge of her vision alerted her to his presence. She didn't say anything, though, continuing her zooming and focusing and looking for the bacteria in her petri dish.

Neither decided to say anything, and Hiccup pulled out a sketchbook and started sketching something, although Astrid didn't bother looking at what it was.

Hiccup glanced over at her once in a bit, and Astrid wondered if he was going to say something. He didn't seem to want to, though, so she didn't either.

His eyes were green, the kind of green that Astrid associated with summer leaves and light and happiness (not that they got much of that here in Seattle).

She recorded data and statistics and facts down in her science notebook and her right elbow hit his and she realized he was left-handed. She tried to ignore his startled look and resumed adjusting the knobs on the microscope.

Wondering why he wasn't setting up an experiment of his own, she glanced at the clock. Duh, class was over in about two minutes. She desperately searched her petri dish for anything she missed, then glanced over at him and realized he wasn't there.

There was, though, a single piece of unlined paper, ripped at the edge as if torn out of a notebook. She looked closer and saw a dozen sketches of a girl, her expressions rarely varying, and it dimly registered at the back of her mind who it was.

Herself.

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><p>The next day, she was wondering if she had any other classes with him and found that yes, she did. He was always there, in fact, at the far left side in the middle row of the classroom in contrast to Astrid's front row seat on the far right. It made it impossible, in fact, for her to even see him from where she was seated.<p>

But in one class, LA, the teacher asked them to switch seats. She found a new seat in the middle of the front, and glanced over in surprise when he settled down to her right.

He remained aloof and quiet, though, and as she worked on her essay (due in over a month), she saw him scribbling something in a notebook – all writing, she noticed, and she smiled as she came up with an idea. She pulled a sticky note off of her stack and drew a stick figure on it, labeled it 'Hiccup,' crumpled it up and threw it at him.

He looked over at her, surprised, and she coolly went back to her work, but even though her eyes were on the paper, nobody could miss the smile that lit up his face.

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><p>Astrid had always went about her work mechanically, robotically, always performing to her best and keeping a straight face. But there was something new, now, and it was Hiccup. <em>A Hiccup in the process<em>, she thought wryly, slinging her navy backpack over her shoulder as she walked to her math class.

The halls were crowded, but her eyes roamed over the throngs of people flooding the building after break, searching for somebody, even though she didn't know who she was looking for.

Somebody appeared beside her and she glanced over, seeing Hiccup looking down at his feet (wait, never mind, foot) and she couldn't help the little tug at the corner of her mouth though he hadn't even said anything to her yet.

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><p>Astrid sat at her desk at home, typing the report that was due in, what, a month? She stopped and tipped her head back, staring at the ceiling and wondering what in the world her life had come to. She swiveled her chair around and looked at the bin of art supplies in the corner, dusty and unused.<p>

Almost like she wasn't controlling herself, Astrid stood up and stiffly walked to the box. Kneeled. She opened up the box, pulled out a couple of colors, grabbed a piece of paper and a palette and water. Then she allowed herself to do something she hadn't done in six months.

Astrid painted.

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><p>Astrid went to school, as usual. She sat down in homeroom and studied her hands, flecked with green and red and brown, remnants of the paint she hadn't bothered to scrub off. Somebody settled down beside her and she glanced over.<p>

Hiccup.

She smiled and cleared her throat. "Um, hi."

Hiccup stared at her, startled. "Uh, hi?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Astrid inspected her hands again.

"I'm Hiccup?"

"I'm Astrid?" she said, mimicking his tone.

He rolled his eyes in a friendly, exasperated way and she couldn't contain the grin that spread across her face like a wildfire.

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><p>Her double block of science came next. She wasn't sure what to expect, but of course, there he was, in his one-footed glory and long-limbed awkwardness.<p>

He glanced over at her, and it struck Astrid how actually _cute_ Hiccup was. Maybe he wasn't the Theo James she'd been hoping for, but he was a strong nine. At least.

He blushed and returned to his work and Astrid thought something was wrong with her because her stomach twisted into a fluttery knot that wouldn't go away.

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><p>"I can't draw!" Astrid exclaimed.<p>

"Yeah, but painting isn't that far away from drawing. You're fine at painting."

"Uh, what? Have you _seen_ my paintings? They're part of the reason I stopped painting in the first place."

"What are you talking about? These are great!"

"Says the person who can draw a detailed profile in under a minute."

"Pish."

"Haha, I'm right."

"Just because I stopped arguing does not mean you're right!"

"Does too."

"Who says?"

"Me. Duh."

Hiccup rolled his and tipped back in his chair, which made his dark green tee shirt ride up a bit. Astrid told herself _calm down, he's your friend, no need to get all blushy and shit,_ but she blushed anyways.

He then proceeded to open his mouth and make some kind of weird noise somewhere between _aaagh_ and _chhkkkkt_. "Oh, of course! Astrid is right. She wins. _Duh._"

Astrid reached out her foot, hooked the edge of the plastic chair, and slammed it down with a _thud_.

"_Ssshh_," the librarian hissed, although it seemed a little late to Astrid.

Hiccup lurched forward and slammed his face into the table. He swore, and Astrid was debating on whether or not to change his status from a strong nine to at least an average twenty-something because _day-umm_, there was nothing that got her good like one-legged non-athletic freckly, geeky seventeen year olds.

Hiccup made a face at her and it took all she had not to melt and burst out laughing simultaneously.

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><p>Astrid knocked on his door – <em>thunkthunkthunk<em> – and the door opened and something black and furry launched itself into her face, slurping her face with something long and wet.

"Toothless, down!" somebody said. "She's friend, not food!"

The giant, shaggy black dog finally detached itself from Astrid's face. "Uh, Toothless?" she wondered aloud.

The person who had told Toothless to get down – Hiccup – handed her a towel. "Sorry," he said. "He's kind of enthusiastic."

Astrid gave him a stink-eye, wiping dog slobber from her face.

"Okay," Hiccup relented, "He's _really_ enthusiastic."

Astrid rolled her eyes and nodded and handed him back the towel. He tossed it into a hamper. Astrid couldn't help but wonder how much this happened for there to be a _hamper._ Next to the _front door_.

"Okay, but why _Toothless?_" The dog looked up at her, grinning and panting. "He seems like he has plenty of teeth."

"Uh, yeah, he does. But he's amazingly gentle. Huh, bud, aren't ya?"

The dog hopped to face Hiccup, and that's when Astrid noticed that Toothless was missing a leg. (Very much like his [insanely hot] owner.)

Hiccup braced himself as the black dog lunged and put his paws on his shoulders, licking every available inch of space (including the inside of his ear).

"Yeah, okay, I love you, but seriously, get down, bud," Hiccup commanded, grabbing himself a fresh towel. "Um, so, welcome to my house, Astrid. We could go up to my room, I guess? To work on our science project?"

"Keep the door open," an accented voice called from further in the rambling house.

"Yeah, mom, okay," Hiccup yelled back. He turned back to Astrid and gestured up the stairs. "After you."

She looked at him. "Uh, it's your house."

"Yeah, but," Hiccup said, staring at the stairs. (Or rather, stairing at the stairs? Astrid mentally slapped herself for the pun.) "Stairs are not exactly my forte."

"I'll help you," Astrid said helpfully.

"Yeah, but_ aaggh_-" Hiccup's protest was cut short as Astrid grabbed his hand and tugged him lightly up the stairs. He blushed a violent shade of red, and Astrid was startled to find that their hands fit together perfectly.

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><p>Hiccup collapsed at the top of the stairs. She laid next to him, their feet resting on the top two stairs lightly. She turned her head and he grinned goofily at her and she could've died right there.<p>

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><p>There was only one chair in Hiccup's room and Astrid didn't feel like getting another one so there they were, awkwardly touching shoulders and hips as they worked on their science project.<p>

They weren't really getting much done, though.

Turns out that because of his prosthetic Hiccup couldn't kneel, so he had to bend _way way way_ over and Astrid was really tempted to just knock things over off of his desk.

(Maybe it provided a really good view of his butt, but whatever.)

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><p>Hiccup's mom, Valka, made really good cookies.<p>

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><p>Astrid got really, really sick the next day and stayed home. Hiccup arrived after school to check on her but she was so freaking <em>out <em>of it that she wasn't really in control of what she was saying and she may or may not have said how cute he was. He blushed and mumbled something about having a crush on her but she didn't quite catch it.

Her body told her to _sleep now_ and she kind of crumpled onto the couch and Hiccup (maybe, she wasn't entirely sure) kissed her on the cheek.

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><p>Astrid was better in a couple of days and went to school for the last day before Thanksgiving break and she caught up with Hiccup and he looked at her like she was an angel but she didn't realize it until much later.<p>

"You know," Hiccup said by way of greeting, "You may or may not have said something about how great I looked?"

"And I may or may not have meant it?" Astrid asked, and suddenly his lips were on hers and he was kissing her and _oh gods_ did it feel so natural and so _right_, so she threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed him back with all the ferocity that she had.

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><p><em>So maybe Astrid's story had a bit of a different hiccup than the hiccup most heroes had, but she thought he fit her pretty damn well.<em>

_FIN_

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><p><em>AN: I really love Hiccstrid. Sue me._


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